Sportfreunde Stiller - 30 Wonderful Years

MALE DOG

How does one look back on thirty years of band history? From a distance, the view resembles the outlook on a vast jungle of deep life. For us sports friends, it is less inhabited by venomous snakes and dangerous multi-legged creatures, but rather by friendly jungle beings. Devoted to life, searching for stories and discoveries. Behind almost every tour day lie funny experiences, joyful hugs, the best celebrations, and ever-growing stories that become more deeply rooted over the years. Records and tours turn into high plateaus of memory, celebrations sometimes decades later become colossal plants of “Do you remember back then?” tales. Brotherhoods, friendships, tender plants, or simply large-pored potatoes. In every corner, every fork in the road hangs the scent and beauty of celebratory life. Sometimes a painful search and often a happy resolution. What is one person's hubris becomes the norm for the band. Standing on stage while tens of thousands sing a song that came to us in our gritty rehearsal room: no problem, it's normal. One person rides home on a scooter, we in a rolling home, no problem, it's normal. Music becomes the backstage pass into the hearts of strangers, who somehow also become friends, happening over and over again. That remains beautiful, and one can never get used to it. I can recommend being in a band to anyone. Whether with or without music, it doesn’t matter; the main thing is that you dive in together and not alone!

FLO

Everything started with the "Wonderful Years." With the time when self-discovery broke through in rebellion, defiance, coolness, mod-shuffle, and wandering around. And with the idea of putting three somewhat different musical preferences into a band context. Before the first single in the spartan rehearsal room in 1996, Jack Kerouac, Big Muff distortion, some school form from Germering, and definitely the idea of enormous volume haunted our minds. 27 minutes later, the "Wonderful Years" were born, and the knowledge that no matter what musical may come, this is a cheeky manifesto of our adolescent existence. That remains forever. It became the motto of our lives. And on top of that, much more was yet to come.

From performances in dark cellar rooms in front of three curious people to halls filled with ten thousand souls. From special features like World Cup hits, MTV Unplugged sessions, horizon-expanding music videos, records made of wood/gold/platinum, reading tours in opera houses to the "completely normal" madness of a band, including unforgettable tours in the arms of the best crew of the universe. From being the opening act for Foo Fighters, Green Day, and Grönemeyer to opening for bands like Ash, Nada Surf, Franz Ferdinand, and Kaiser Chiefs. Everything included. From the always supportive and driving management to the always integrable social engagement. Against the creative void, against the envious, against the mood-makers, but always knowing that what we do logically cannot please everyone. Who manages that, except Florian Wirtz?

With the tools and background of a radio play, two EPs, ten albums, millions of concerts (for example, Eggenfelden, Neustrelitz, Hamburg, Tashkent, Madrid, London, New York, etc.) and the privilege of being able to combine profession and vocation, we bow down to our listeners down to our toes. Mucho gracias grande for dancing, singing, and feeling along! We just want to say that you are the greatest for us. And that has been the case for 30 wonderful years! Let’s go!

PETER

It’s 1996… a guy with a Britpop haircut asks a guy in a grunge raincoat, “Hey, you make music too, right? Let’s do something together! Up for it? Something indie, alternative in German, I have a song…” One year later, after the first bassist went missing… “Hey, there’s someone who studied jazz or politics or something, wears a cap backwards and has a mop underneath, should we try him out as the new bass player?” So or something like that goes the start of the story of the 3 sports friends.

In the following 29 years, everything that can be experienced as a band was pretty much included: - meteoric non-rise - slightly tense failure - pop-like chart entries - magical encounters - rock moments for eternity - world-class million-voice choruses - gigantic crisis overcoming - gilded honors And songs as friends and friends as eternal companions of our songs. Over and over again…

“It’s 2026… now we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Sportfreunde. Just let that sink in on the drum skin! As a person, turning 30 means goodbye to youth, oh dear, real life! As a band, turning 30 means hooray, we’re still alive! (Free after Milva) And that this band has been accompanying our lives for so long, yes, shaping and inspiring us in a significant and positive way, we want to celebrate with you!

That’s why everything that comes on top of this will be celebrated so intensely that our hearts vibrate and the plunze wobbles! We want to write new stuff, then hit the road with a Best Of and go all out! Will you also rush with us through 30 wonderful years?”